"Does the average player and the average coach in Britain actually know what it takes?"

Michael Downey, the new Lawn Tennis Association chief executive, is not in the business of mincing his words. Headhunted from Tennis Canada to ensure there is no repeat of the 36-year gap between British Wimbledon winners (from Virginia Wade in 1977 to Andy Murray in 2013), Downey has wasted no time in questioning the will of many of his adopted country's young players.

"What Andy Murray has done is really, really difficult. Part of it might be that we as a federation are at times doing too much," he says.

"We need to make them hungry… It is important that the best kids in Britain have to go on the road and play in a country that may not have great facilities, and learn to lose in the first round, then stay there and train in those conditions before they move on.

"We don't have those conditions in Britain. You play in a challenger in Britain and it is a very good environment.

"It is great that we can deliver that, but it is also not the real world in terms of what these kids are going to face 30 or 40 weeks a year.

"That's a toughness that we are going to have to create."

For Britain's brightest young prospect such toughness looks like it is already there.

Katie Boulter has spent just three weeks at home since the turn of the year, hauling her suitcase from Australia to Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines and currently Egypt. A solitary week at home is penciled in the diary before again departing for Italy and France ahead of the season's second grand slam.

"I've always traveled so it's not really been an issue with me," explains the 17 year-old.

"I'm not sure what all the other young players are like but I think some of them kind of like their home comforts and are not willing to take that huge step yet. But it just depends on the individual.

"You go to all these different places to compete against different players and it's extremely important to do that because you learn knew things. It gives you a lot of experience for later on in life."

Boulter in action at Wimbledon juniors last year

The Loughborough teenager is Downey's best immediate hope of bringing through new talent having reached a career-high No 10 in the world junior rankings last month after making it to the Australian Open girls' doubles final.

Yet, despite such success, she is insistent on not getting carried away with the positive or negative - Boulter is the lone British girl or boy in the world top-60 - numbers of the junior game.

"We can look at rankings all day long and say we are not doing very well but there are a lot of good youngsters coming up and players who work extremely hard looking to the future," she says.

"I wouldn't say Britain are doing badly. We have quite a few people who are up and coming and that's very inspiring for British tennis.

"Everyone progresses at their own pace. You can't say that just because we haven't got another Laura Robson, who won Wimbledon juniors at 14 years old, that Britain are doing badly.

"I'm extremely pleased to say that I've been in the top 10 for juniors and I've worked hard to achieve that, but also I am looking ahead. My main goal is to be top 10 in women's."

It is a permanent focus on that end goal that keeps Boulter both wary of the dangers of believing her own hype and able to accept the greater success of some of her peers.

Just last week, Croatian 17-year-old Donna Vekic became the youngest WTA title winner in eight years at the Malaysian Open, while the last couple of decades have seen Martina Hingis, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams lift their first grand slam trophies before their 18th birthdays.

"It's extremely hard to compare people because they all develop at different rates and their games change in different ways with their physique. You have to wait until later in life," says Boulter.

"You look at Laura Robson, who won junior Wimbledon at 14, and then you look at Eugenie Bouchard, who won junior Wimbledon at 17. They are both in the same place right now."

More important to Boulter is ensuring her junior success translates to the professional ranks.

"I'm extremely wary of that which is why I'm working so hard at the moment to progress to the women's tour.

"I know a lot of my friends who were really good on the junior tour and now are really struggling in the seniors. They have had to go to college instead when I know their passion is tennis."

Having represented Great Britain at all age groups from the age of seven, Boulter has two more junior grand slams - French Open and Wimbledon - ahead of her before turning her attention to the professional circuit full time.

The transition has already begun though and the Briton was within touching distance of her first ITF senior singles title in Sharm el-Sheikh last weekend when she failed to convert three championship points and went down 7-6, 0-6, 6-7 to Ireland's Amy Bowtell.

"It was a really big moment for me, just a bit annoying that I had three match points and still managed to lose it," she explains.

"I worked really hard for the first set but then I didn't feel good, lost the second 6-0 and ended up vomiting after that on the way to the toilet. So that wasn't ideal!

"I had to give it everything I had, got to 6-3 up in the last set tie-break and just couldn't serve it out. It's one of those things where you can look at it and dissect it but I think if I had had a couple of senior finals before that one there is more of a chance I would have won."

Indeed, as if Downey's words were echoing in her head, just two days after one of the toughest defeats of her career, Boulter was back on court in the first round of another tournament in Egypt.

Maths and economics A-Level lessons are conducted over Skype and normal school life ended at the age of 12 when tennis became her full-time focus.

Last year Boulter was escorted off court after a match at the French Open and taken straight to the accreditation office for a three-hour GCSE geography exam - "It's a little bit hard doing it like that but it's a sacrifice I've made."

The new LTA chief may have plenty of work on his hands to convince Britain's youngsters of what it takes to become the next Murray or Robson.

But if toughness, sacrifice and focus are the key, Boulter already has everything he is looking for.